Hi! First off, I have good news! My Sunlight nested pretty heavily a few days ago and this morning I found her and an egg! I’m so exited and happy for her! Now, for my question, is it possible for a pokemon to be half shiny? I was lucky to catch a cute lil axew some years ago and back then nothing was off, but he evolved to a haxorous not too long ago and his colours are a fade from a normal one to a shiny one. Like a gradient almost. I’ve never hear of it before. Have you?

First and foremost, regarding Sunlight, congratulations! It’s great to hear that she’s doing so well. May the hatchling be happy and healthy!

As for your question, it’s actually entirely possible. Although shininess and standard coloration are both defined as specific palettes according to breeders, the possible colors a pokémon can be is actually more of a spectrum. Pokémon can possess pretty much any combination of colors: limbs or appendages that are actually of the shiny variant, pelts that are shades lighter or darker than they should be, and even scales that display a cross of both. It’s just rarer for it to happen as such, but for a pokémon to be born like that? It’s certainly possible.

However, for evolutions, you’ll need to be a bit more careful, especially if the preevolution was not colored that way. In some cases, yes, the process of evolution could trigger a unique sequence of genes that results in odd coloration compared to the preevolved form, but in some cases, this could be an indication that there’s an underlying health issue. It wouldn’t hurt to take your haxorus out for a thorough check-up, just to be on the safe side.

Can pokemon have pigment mutations that result in colors other than the standard shiny coloration? I think I heard about melanistic and albino pokemon, but other than that, could you end up with, say, a blue chimchar? What decides what color a shiny will end up?

Regarding the first question, well … no. Just as humans can’t have grass-green skin, pokémon colors are pretty set. Even in the most extreme cases, such as the rare purple kecleon, the pigmentation involved is actually just a mutation of a possible color palette for that species. (In kecleon’s case, its purple color is actually a mutation that causes pigments from its stripe to color the whole specimen.

As for what determines a shiny’s color, it’s the same thing as what determines the color of a standard form, really: genetics. Think of it like this: shiny pokémon are to standard colorations as green-eyed humans are to those with practically any other color.

My shiny Swellow recently laid a clutch of 4 eggs, and they hatched a couple of days ago. One of the Taillow actually hatched shiny too and it appears she’s paying more attention to this chick than the rest. Is this because of its colour being the same as hers or could there perhaps be another reason?

Not so much because the chick’s color is the same as hers, anonymous, as it is because shiny pokémon have a decreased likelihood to survive. Most shinies are easier to spot than their standard-colored counterparts, as their coloration stands out as something new and different, rather than something a predator might have seen more than a few times. (Alternatively, yes, some colors can stand out in that they render a pokémon incapable of blending in with their environment, and this is true for a shiny taillow as well.) As such, your swellow is likely grooming her shiny chick a little more than the others to ensure its survival outside the nest. It’s really only worrisome if the mother is completely ignoring the rest of her brood altogether.

I was researching shiny pokemon the other day, and came across shiny pokemon breeders. Apparently they breed pokemon deliberately to get a shiny result, and some sell them for high prices. Is this ethical? Are there any possible repercussions on the pokemon due to selective breeding? I heard some breed exclusively shiny pokemon as well, which can lead to inbreeding. I’m just worried about the poor pokemons’ health!

That depends on the breeder, anonymous. There are plenty of breeders who use ethical practices, including rehoming standard variation pokémon or placing them in low-kill shelters, rearing pokémon in safe environments, and strictly breeding pokémon from different familial stocks (sometimes pokémon sourced from entirely different countries) to minimize inbreeding. Others, however, use less scrupulous means, including inbreeding and overworking parent pokémon. This is why it’s vital to work with only League-certified shiny breeders—and even then, to do your own research into a breeder’s background before contacting them. (This could also be said of pokémon breeding in general, actually.)

In short, there are some who unfortunately don’t take into consideration the well being of their breeding pokémon or the resulting hatchlings, and although the Association does its best to shut down as many of these as we can, there are some who manage to slip past us. However, not all breeders are like this, and many go out of their way to ensure that both their breeding pokémon and their hatchlings are handled in a humane manner.

Genetically is there a reason some shinies are less conspicuous than others? A shiny eevee has less ability to hide from predators due to silver coloring but a Pokémon like gabite does not change much when altered forms are involved. Moreover is the reason shinies are so rare due to their lack of ability to hide or hunt due to their coloring make them more of a target? I gave a hiding example with eevee but for hunting a shiny sharpedo is more likely to be spotted by prey, giving warning by hue

Actually, the reason why shinies are rarer than standard pokémon is because shininess is a genetic mutation. It’s very much the same as albinism in humans. Just as albinism is possible but extremely rare in humans (and is often tied to health problems and is, thus, not an ideal condition), shininess is likewise possible, rare, and may lead to issues for the individual. (In some cases, those issues may even be the same—that is, the issues may actually be tied to health problems in certain pokémon species, not simply conspicuousness.)

Granted, yes, in some cases, shiny populations of some species are low because the conspicuousness of a shiny-variant pokémon makes it difficult for individuals to hunt or hide from predators, but really, it’s just that shiny populations are low to begin with purely because shininess is a mutation.

Im a pokemon researcher, and I am currently studying on an island. I was flying around on my Staraptor, trying to get a better view of the area, when I came across a flock of Hoothoot. This doesnt sound exciting at first since Im near Johto, but to my suprise, all of the specimin were shiny! I at first assumed that perhaps the hoothoot living here were more pack like similar to mightyena, but i later discoved that all hoothoot on the island were shiny! Any idea on why?

As you likely know, shininess is determined by genetics, and in turn, genetics are governed by the basic principles of biological inheritance and natural selection. That is, if two individuals both have a certain trait, then there is a certain chance that their offspring will also have it. The offspring, in turn, has a chance of passing that trait to their offspring, and so on and so forth.

In an area with a larger pool of eligible mating partners—such as the Johtonian mainland, for example—the frequency of shiny individuals is kept low because, as shininess is a rare trait to begin with, the likelihood of two hoothoot with the shiny trait is lower than the likelihood of two hoothoot without.

However, islands are isolated communities, which means they’re considerably more restrictive when it comes to eligible breeding pools, and thus, it’s far easier for two individuals with the shiny gene to mate. If they pass their genes on to their offspring, that offspring enters the mating pool and, in turn, has a chance of passing their shiny gene on to their offspring, even if their partner is not a carrier. If this is allowed to continue over many, many years, then soon enough, the traits for standard colorization ends up being bred out of the community, leaving only those who carry the gene for shininess.

In short, what you’re observing are the results of many, many years of natural selection at work, anonymous.

My venusaurs flower is a yellow color. He’s not sluggish or anything and is as happy as ever. Is it normal for venusaurs to have different colored flowers?

Well, it’s a complicated sort of normal, anonymous. It seems you were lucky enough to come across the shiny variation of venusaur, so while it’s perfectly fine to have a yellow one, it’s extremely rare.

Unless, of course, the leaves are drooping or the flower is brown along the edges. If that’s the case, then please water your venusaur; he’s wilting.

I recently found a Mimikyu with a faded grey Pikachu disguise. Is it possible for Mimikyu to be colorblind? From what I read in my Pokedex, it’s clear that Mimikyu take good care of their disguises and I can’t imagine something so drastic as discoloration could be overlooked otherwise.

It is indeed possible, anonymous, but it’s extremely rare. This is why monochrome mimikyu are considered “shiny,” even though their shininess isn’t technically a genetic trait. Consequently, though, this mimikyu had attempted to capture a pikachu’s colors, but to that mimikyu, those colors just happened to be various muted shades of gray.

You are, in other words, fantastically fortunate to have come across this particular mimikyu, but I wouldn’t suggest pointing out that they got their costume’s colors wrong.

How do we know what the shiny variations of legendary pokemon look like if there is supposed to only be one of each species? And how do we know their typings if it’s so hard to get close to one? Is the “one of each” thing simply a myth telling us how rare these pokemon are?

Legendary pokémon are rather unique in that there are actually an abundance of depictions of them via ancient art. Remember, legendaries are essentially gods or powerful spirits to many cultures, and as such, many humans have created paintings, idols, statues, and so forth depicting what legendaries are normally like. We can gather that the images we see are of “normal” variations if that legendary is of a particular color in many of its depictions. For example, we assume that Ho-oh’s normal coloring includes blue, green, and violet because most of the paintings in Johto depict it as such. Thus, if we ever see Ho-oh without those colors, we can safely assume that this is a variant color, not its normal coloration. (Either that, or our ancestors were wrong.)

As for typings, we don’t always know for certain, although we can collect data from exceptionally strong trainers who have managed to encounter or capture one themselves. For those legendaries we still have yet to catch (Arceus and Ho-oh, for example), the officially listed typing is more or less a hypothesis based on what we know from their respective legendaries. Ho-oh, for one, is listed as a fire- and flying-type because it’s a bird known for its sacred flames. Lugia, by contrast, is a flying- and psychic-type (as opposed to water or dragon) because the legends about it describe abilities that are more in line with psychic-types than water- or dragon-types … and also because we have data from trainers who have managed to get close enough to Lugia to observe it.

Finally, as for your question concerning uniqueness … that’s a difficult one to answer. For some legendaries, it’s very true that there are more than one, and the uniqueness the pokédex emphasizes is really just a label, as you say. This is the case with Latios, Latias, and Lugia (although the lugia Johtonians worship is a very specific one, not just any lugia—and lugia are extremely rare either way). Meanwhile, for other, more powerful legendaries (such as Arceus, Dialga, Palkia, and so forth), it’s very likely there’s only one. Then there are legendaries who are somewhere in between—that is, we don’t have enough data to determine whether or not they’re unique. This is the case with legendaries such as Mew or even Ho-oh.

In short, much of what we know about legendaries is tied to conjecture based on legends and folklore. In reality, we don’t have a lot of data to know for certain if many of our assumptions—of populations, of powers, and even of color—are completely true.

Bill, whats your opinion on shiny hunters/breeders? Like the people who breed to find shinies (or natures or egg moves or stats or abilities) and toss all the babies that aren’t shiny or useful to them? I think it’s really inhumane :( I’ve heard of places who do exclusive shiny breeding! Like someone can go to them and ask for a specific shiny Pokémon and they’ll breed for it… it’s sick!

On the one hand, although I’m always excited by the prospect of finding and encountering rare pokémon, I am uncomfortable with the concept of collecting pokémon in the way some pokémaniacs do. Pokémon, after all, are living, breathing creatures, and to reduce their value down to their pelt or skin color is a little … problematic.

On the other, if you’re referring to shiny specialists (those who are paid to find or breed shinies for others), rest assured that there’s more to it than that. Shiny pokémon sometimes struggle in the wild as noted here, so trainers who are hired to find and catch them through legitimate means (that is, by obeying capture laws and avoiding poaching) often focus on species whose shiny variations would fare much better in a domestic setting than in the wild.

Likewise, all reputable breeders require certification to run a day care, so those who run services to breed for shiny pokémon are required to rehome the non-shinies. Oftentimes, if you ask these day cares, you’ll find that they often either give their non-shiny pokémon to starter distribution centers or run sizable no-kill shelters themselves, which are often open to those who wish to find pets as well as partners for trainers’ journeys. (Breeders are barred from culling their hatchlings or releasing them en masse into the wild. Either are great ways of failing inspections and having licenses revoked.)

Of course, reputable trainers-for-hire or shiny breeders are few and far between, and the shiny enthusiast culture often encourages seedier practices, rather than the legitimate ones. All too often, I hear about a trainer who essentially poaches a shiny or a trainer who accepts eggs from non-specialist day cares, only to release non-shinies into the wild en masse (thus often disrupting the local ecosystem). These would be irresponsible, especially because they’re often coupled with the tendency to treat the shinies they obtain as trophies, rather than as living beings. It’s unfortunate that this happens, yes, and it’s not something I condone, even if the shiny in question is a particularly rare pokémon I would love to see.

Thus, to put it in short, I’m fine with the idea if you obtain your shinies through legitimate means or set up honest, humane businesses that follow strict ecologically-friendly policies. I’m less comfortable with the idea if you don’t intend on following humane, eco-friendly practices.